Step 12:

Step 13:

One thing I noticed was that the dye was mainly absorbed by the egg shell, not by the crystals. Yet the crystals are transparent enough that they r...

I love crystals and especially geodes, so how could I pass up the chance to turn some empty egg shells into crystal filled geodes. I saw it here at http://www.marthastewart.com/343344/crystal-egg-geodes. Well, I couldn’t resist, so I started gathering supplies and ran into one problem. Where to get Alum in bulk? A 1 oz. jar for $4 is just too much for my budget. I finally found a 1 pound bag at a place called Allyson’s Pantry (http://www.alisonspantry.com/ ) here in Utah ($6.00 for the bag). There are other places that have it on line. I am excited to show you how to make Crystal Egg Geodes, so let’s get started.

Step 2:

First take your empty egg shell and divide it in to, two pieces, lengthwise. I took a pair of pointed scissors and started cutting down one side from the hole at one end to the hole at the other end. The other side just broke in half when I pulled the two sides apart. Don’t worry about straight edges. Geodes don’t often have straight edges, so these won’t need straight edges either. Make sure each egg shell half is clean and dry.

Step 3:

Squirt a little glue into each shell half

Step 4:

and use the paint brush to spread the glue all over the inside of the egg shell. Sprinkle alum crystals (powder) all over the glue. Let this dry for several hours. The alum crystals in the glue provide the “seeds” for the crystals to grow on. “Seeds” are a NEED in all crystal growing situations.

Step 5:

Lay each shell half in the bottom of its own plastic or glass cup, with the cut/seeded side up.

Hi we are doing this for a science project as well and I was wondering if we wanted to show the different mediums like borax for instance-- am I still soaking them completely and do I include the alum with the other mediums? Thanks!!

You can if you use exactly the same amount of alum with each other medium. Use the metric system and use a scale to measure it. What is you hypothesis? What are you trying to discover? With that info I would know how to better answer you question. Hope to hear from you soon.

I think you would loose the color. The color seems to be in the shell not the crystals themselves. I just tried and every time I peeled a little shell away the crystal came with it. They really stick to the shell. Sorry.

I'm in the process of making one of these, but instead of using a real egg, I went out and bought a few of those giant (3 inches deep, 5 inches long) plastic easter eggs with a colored bottom and clear top. I'm hoping to get a giant 'geode' with a clear removable lid for keeping it safe and displaying it!

I seen the finished product on Pinterest when I was first informed of the link. I have searched for this in books,online,etc. SOooooo very happy to find it, I think they are great. Congrs. on a great job.

you could also make a deep bowl and just poke the holes and put the alum into the holes to keep the egg whole because then you could crack the egg like a real geode, it'll look like a real egg and you can crack it to the candy inside

Great instructable although your definition of super saturated is not quite correct. When a solution can hold no more medium at the current temperature then it has become fully saturated. A solution is super saturated when the solution is fully saturated at a higher temperature and then allowed to cool. This then allows the solution to hold more medium then if it had just been saturated. This is super saturated.